Industry News
Deer Valley Resort, Utah, announced today that it will be amalgamating Extell’s Mayflower Mountain Resort to form one of the largest ski resorts in North America. Deer Valley had been in negotiations about operating the Mayflower project for the last couple of years. The Mayflower Mountain Resort is currently under construction and is adjacent to the Deer Valley Resort.
Extell, the developer behind the Mayflower project, will continue to build hotels, a range of luxury ski-in-ski-out homes as well as a commercial downtown area that is envisioned to be similar to Park City’s Historic Main Street. The resort was initially planned to open in 2021/22, but Covid, amongst others, has delayed the launch. Now with Deer Valley handling the ski terrain side of things, the new ski area is slated to open in the 2025/26 season. Once completed, the new ski area will add 16 chairlifts, 135 ski runs, and 3,700 acres of skiable area to the Deer Valley Resort. Like Deer Valley, the Mayflower side will be operated for skiers only.
This means that once completed, Deer Valley Resort will boast 5,726 acres of skiable area serviced by 37 chairlifts, making it the third largest ski resort in the U.S. after Park City, Utah, and Big Sky, Montana. This will make Deer Valley the largest skier-only resort in the world, overtaking Alta Ski Area, Utah, in size.
The Mayflower area of the Deer Valley Resort can be accessed from the new village being built by Extell. This new portal will offer access to the ski area and feature all the infrastructure and comfort one can expect for skiers, from rental shops and ski schools to food and drinking outlets, as well as an anticipated 1,200 parking spots.
Extell purchased the Mayflower land in late 2017, totaling an area of 6,000 acres. The developer committed to putting 3,100 acres of it under conservation while only 1,000 acres will be subject to development. In winter, parts of the area under conservation will be used as the ski area and will be subject to an agreement with Utah Open Lands, who will oversee the easement.
Currently, the top six largest resorts in North America are:
- Powder Mountain, UT – 8,464 skiable acres
- Whistler Blackcomb, BC – 8,171
- Park City Mountain Resort, UT – 7,300
- Palisades Tahoe – 6,400
- Big Sky Resort, MT – 5,800
- Vail, CO – 5,289
